Characters and objects
 

If you had to choose just one item which yu think sums up a character, or if you were doing a minimalist film of LOTR and each character was only allowed on prop, what would it be and why?

The first thing to come to my mind is Anduril. The reforging of Anduril symbolizes the "broken" line of Isildur returning in Aragorn. Similar to the sword being broken, Aragorn was broken. He had such a difficult life, and received little respect from the general population of ME. When the sword is reforged, so is he. He becomes the noble and strong king of Gondor.

[ April 02, 2002: Message edited by: alaklondewen ]

uhm.. the ring... and sauron.

Pippin and his scarf! All the way through the film he has his scarf! I am looking forward to seeing it in TTT!

Arwen and the banner she spent so much time in making - she put all of her hopes for a future with Aragorn as king into that. It must have been a wonderful work of art!

Sauruman - palantir
Gandalf - staff
Frodo - ring
Boromir - horn
Samwise - cooking supplies (pots and pans)! and of course, Frodo.
Those are just a few I came up with.

I think Tolkien has already done the work for us. Each character has a special "thing" that defines his mission. They're so obvious, when you stop to think of them, that it's scary.

The only character that I can think of that has more than one "prop" to define him is Frodo, he has the Ring and The Light.

As for the others...Awwww, heck! You know!

Okay, but what about some characters outside of the Fellowship. Associate one object with Faramir, Treebeard (and I don't mean some silly answer like trees), Tom Bombadil (even though he wasn't in the movie), and Theoden. Are duplicates allowed? How could you associate anything with Gollum other than the Ring, but that is the object of Sauron too. What object would you associate with Saruman? If its the palantir then what would you associate with Denethor?

Personally, I'd associate the palantir with Saruman and a roaring fire with Denethor, and no I'm not being flippant. After seeing how Denethor ends it's hard to think of anything else in connection with him.

The secondary characters are a little more nebulous than the Fellowship, that's true; though you could associate Treebeard with a bowl of Ent-draught very easily [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. Faramir and Eowyn are harder - I tend to think of them not so much in connection with objects as with particular moments; for Eowyn, raising her sword to strike the Witch-king, for Faramir, being carried away unconscious from the pyre of Denethor. Don't know why, it just happens that way.

Kuruharan:

Treebeard - His tree-y beard. [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

If I say you're not allowed duplicates, who gets the ring, Frodo, Sauron or gollum and what do you give to the other two? In reply to Birdland, Treebeard's tree-y beard could be said to be part of him and not really a prop; maybe he could have a ... hm it is quite hard isn't it, ok, his tree-y beard is allowed, but only cos he doesn't really have any props!

Sauron's would be THE EYE!!!! Frodo's...would be the mithril coat
Gollum's would be his ...ok somethings..fish maybe?

Bilbo-Sting
Pippin-the elven brooch
Merry-The Horn of Rohan
Gimli-not his axe, but the hair of Galadriel
Legolas-the bow of Lorien
Sam-the little box of dirt [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
Most of the objects come in Lorien...
Aragorn has several: the Green stone, Narsil, and the Ring of Barahir (not a trinket!). I'd pick Narsil/Anduril for him.
And Frodo just can't help but be the ringbearer.
Gollum I'd leave emptyhanded. Someone always is.
And for Gandalf his pipe.
Eowyn: sword or shield?

Well, Eowyn is a shield-maiden, so perhaps she should have a shield, although it would be a little hard to stab the witch-king with a shield! Sword I think.

One could associate Galadriel's phial or even Sting with Sam. He was so noble & heroic using them, and yet confident that they weren't his.

Merry - what's remaining of the Barrow Downs sword.
Aragorn - Anduril, or the Green Stone.
Legolas - a seagull [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

I'd give Frodo the Ring, Gollum the Eye (that's what must have tormented him for ages) and Sauron the image Pippin saw when he looked into the palantír (the Eye and the Nine Nazgûl).

Actually, Treebeard is hard to come up with, aside from his tree-beard.

Denethor-his staff of office

Faramir-a tome of ancient lore perhaps?

Frodo-I'd have to give him the phial, since everyone know's that it's Sauron's Ring (sorry Gollum).

Saruman-He gets the palantir.

Definitely fire.

Yes, Denethor with a pyre, definitely. But I also always think of him holding the broken horn of Boromir in his lap. Kind of represents everything else that is "broken" in his life at the time, doesn't it?

Yeah, Kuruharan, I like the Rod of the Stewards for Denethor. It holds great authority, but is really hollow and empty compared with the real authority of the Kings.

Théoden and Snowmane (who is not really an object I suppose), he is a kindly old man and I think he would love his horse more than many of his fine possesions.

And here's a new one: I like the Gem of Arwen for Frodo. It seems to be a fading memory of what once was, like the whole Elven race, and like Frodo himself by the end of his trial. The Phial gave him the strength to accomplish the task, but it is Arwen's Gem that he has to turn to in the end for comfort.

Gollum, fissssh.


Great thread!